The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-05-04
ERAsTUs wIMAN's CYCLONE.
1t Grinds up Nails and Quartz and PuIver-
lies Whatever 1t Is Fed On.
New York Tribune

1t Grinds mp Nails and Quartz and PuIver-
lies Whatever 1t Is Fed On.
New York Tribunel
Erastus Wiman has purchased cyclone.
| He says this has no connection with his
| Staten Island circus, and that he will not
advertise it later on as a wonderful machine
| 10 fan the heated brows of weary toilers in
| the city's sun; but. on the contrary, he will
use the captured giant for the benefit of
the poor man, in tightening his labors, and
| so on, for Mr.. Wiman, as is well known, is
a captivating conversationalist. 1t is a
| fact, however, that he has purchased a
| cyclone. The Raymond Brothers, of
Chicago, were ticking a trip out West last
ear, and on the edge of one of the prairies
Michigan came across = nest of cyclones
while the parents were absent foraging for
food. Noticing the sturdy strength of the
youngsters, Albert suggested they might
capture one of them and use it to grind
their corn. His lazy brother thought there
was merit in the suggestion. and accord
iDgly one OF the young ones was placed in
hop pocket and expressed home to Chi
cago. Its force was used in various me-
chanical contrivances there, but in grind
ing wheat it was found to be a failure, as
it made no distinction between the hull
and the corn, but ground all up together.
When the Montreal Winter Carnival was
lator bought the young cyclone for the
purpose of MASKING the ice palace into
mint juleps, and it was while the 1mpris-
oned giant was faithfully performing this
duty that the speculative tendencies OF
Mr.. Wimsn were appealed to in its behalf.
Mr.. Wiman saw millions in it, and at once
had it conveyed TO New YORK,
There have been no performances yet:
only few private rehearsals, and to one OF
these 1t was the good fortune Of Tribune
reporter to receive an invitation. 1t was
held in a lovely spot right at the foot of
Fourteenth street, and near the North
River. The gentleman who acted ss show
man was of a swarthy complexion, huge
mustache and susve manners. He called
himself Smith-simply ]. A. Smith. But
this was merely a rehearsal. When the
regular performances takes place Mr..
Wiman will probably rechristen him, and
he will blossom forth as Signor Heigho
Presto, the greatest prestidigitator of the
age. And with good reason, for the results
shown by Mr.. Smith and his little cyclone
are but little removed from the marvellous.
= Mr.. Smith first showed a cast-iron cylin-
der, about the size of a hall stove. Across
the center was spindle turned By a
ratchet movement, and near the bottom
were two miniature steamship screws, of
two blades each, placed opposite to each
other. The cylinder measured Just foot
in diameter, and the two screws, or heaters,
as Mr.. Smith called them, seven inches by
three and One-half inches. Then the show.
man took a big iron plate, on which
sCyclone PulveriZer" was painted and
screwed it on the face of the cylinder.
Now, gentlemen" he said, drawing up
his sleeves with just the same action as the
Sunday-schOol coDjurer, when he is going
to turn the ground coffee into brown sugar,
you win see at the bottom of the cylinder
two orihces, one on each side, of the di-
mansions of one and One-half inches by
three inches. Above the center are two
air valves twice this size. 1 start the en-
CINE, and the heaters, revolving in con-
trary directions at the rate of 2 500 revo-
lutioHs minute, bring into lively activity
the imprisoned cyclone. Now we will pro-
duce the national colors. Here you see,
gentlemen-no deception-a few pounds OF
iron oxide. L place this in the spout at
the right; the revolving spindle carries
this into the machine and drops it into the
center OF the cylinder. Behold"
There was q rattle as OF small stories for
a few seconds; through the little hole red
dust rose up like a flame and part of it
settled on the wihdow-ledge of the hopper.
Then white quartz was cast into the spout,
and soft white sediment topped the red
to the depth of half an inch. A piece OF
blue stone was next experimental upon.
The dust that rose up was as fine as a jet
of steam. 1t settled on the window-ledge
above the others, and then Professor Smith
rubbed his hands and said: Tine national
colors seeP'
After this there were a number of ex-
periments-wi a more unitarian object.
Probably the most important of these
was the pulverization of plumbago. Not
only is it done so much quicker in this
than by any other known process, but the
pulveriZed material is sorted and divided
into five grades. This is extremely simple.
There are five hoppers connected with the
machine, and the plumbago is deposited
in each according to Its specific gravity,
the one nearest the cyclone being the
cOarsest, and the finer grades being depos.
tied by the action Of a Milwaukee separ.
ator. To the inexperienced eye all these
grades appeared of an equal degree of fine
ness even when spread out with palette
knife on white paper; but Mr.. Smith said
that two of them were finer than what is
known as druggists plumbago," obtained
by chemical processes.
The grading merit of the machine was
shown by another experiment. Ia Canada
there are many beds Of phosphate with
mica. Together they are useless, but the
cyclone pulverizes them; the same law OF
specific gravity divides them, and you have
the mica without the phosphate and the
phosphate without the mica. What a
beautiful thing the powdered mica is, so
soft and smooth to the touch. A little
lump was passed into the machine, and
in mediately the big bin glistened as with a
boar frost.
The experiments with chemicals were in
terrupted by a gentleman who had with
him a soap box filed with North Carolina
quartz. In few minutes it was dust, and
he had iilin pan under the water tap in the
mechanics shop, gently rocking it to and
fro until the dust was washed out and the
dark ore left in little heap. THAT pans
out well, )" he said, land think the cyclone
will beat any other crusher in the world"
You haven't seen half it can do yet"
said Mr.. Smith, with patronizing air Of
pride such as an alchemist might assume.
He emptied half a key of nails into the ma
chine and took from it peck measure Of
no, not gold, but impalpable black powder,
such as might have passed for gold in the
olden days. When the machine was
opened, the bits of nails, held in suspen-
sion as its motion was arrested, were found
at the bottom, most of them rounded like
shot. This showed the principle of the in
yention. The pulverization is by attrition
only, and not by abrasion or conclusion,
as might be supposed.
AS a change from the nails he fed the
| cyclone with bushel of rice bulbs. These
are extremely tough and difficult TO grind
by the ordinary processes, and the powder
| is used for making pearf hutt0ns IrOn